The 8th Confession by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro Read Free Book Online Page A

the Allen charge and then he sequestered them."
    "No kidding. What do you think? There were one or two holdouts?"
    "I don't know, Len," Yuki said. "I counted six jurors that wouldn't meet my eyes."
    "Jesus H. Christ," Parisi said. "I'm glad Duffy put the squeeze on, but don't get your hopes up." He shook his head, asked rhetorically, "What's the hang-up? Stacey Glenn did it."
    "I'm guessing it's Rose Glenn's testimony," Yuki said. "When she said, 'My baby would never hurt us.' It's got to be that—"
    Parisi had stopped listening. "So, okay, we wait it out. Meanwhile, Gaines, get a haircut. Castellano, help Kathy Valoy after lunch. She's swamped. That's it. Thank you."
    Parisi picked up his ringing phone, spun around in his chair, faced his window.
    "I would have gone for it," Nicky was saying as he and Yuki walked back down the hallway. "But he didn't even look at me. I couldn't get a quip in edgewise. Or a retort. Or even a pun."
    Yuki laughed.
    "And believe me, I've got jokes ready to go. Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi, and the hippo who walk into a bar—"
    Yuki laughed again, a musical chortle that was just short of manic. "You made
me
laugh," Yuki said. "That's something. You did good, number two. I'll see you later."
    Yuki left Gaines in the bull pen, took the stairs down to the lobby, and drafted behind a large cop who strong-armed the heavy steel-and-glass doors leading out to Bryant Street.
    Yuki quickly scanned the reporters loitering on the steps outside the Hall. No one had seen her—yet.
    Which was good.
    Sometimes when the press fired questions at her, she wanted to answer and often couldn't prevent her thoughts from stampeding out of her mouth unchecked. So when Yuki saw Candy Stimpson, a feisty reporter from the
Examiner,
she walked quickly down the steps, making a straight line for the corner.
    The reporter called after her, "Yuki! Is the Glenn trial going into the crapper? How are you feeling right now? I just want a
quote.
One stinking
quote.
"
    "Outta my face, Candy," Yuki snapped, turning her head toward the reporter, maintaining her forward motion as she stepped off the sidewalk. "I've got nothing to say."
    Candy Stimpson screamed,
"Yuki, no!"
    But Yuki didn't get it.

Chapter 21
     
    T HE LIGHT SHINING in Yuki's eyes was blinding.
    "Mom!"
she yelled.
"Mommy!"
    "It's okay," said a man's reassuring voice. "
You're
okay."
    The light went off, and she saw gray eyes rimmed with blue, then the rest of his face. She didn't know him, had never seen him before in her life.
    "Who
are
you?"
    "Dr. Chesney," he said. "John. And your name is…?"
    "Ms. Castellano. Yuki."
    "Good." He smiled. "That checks with your ID. I have a few questions—"
    "What the hell? What's going
on?
"
    "You're in the emergency room," Dr. Chesney told her. He appeared to be in his early thirties. Looked like he worked out. "You walked into an oncoming car," he said.
    "I did
not.
"
    "It was stopping for the light, lucky for you," Chesney continued. "Your CAT scan was negative. Just a minor concussion. You've got a couple of scrapes, a few stitches, an impressive bruise on your left hip, but no broken bones. How many fingers am I holding up?"
    "Two."
    "And now?"
    "Three."
    "Okay. Do this. Close your eyes. Touch your nose with your left forefinger. Now, same thing with the right. Excellent. And what's the last thing you remember?"
    "I have an impressive bruise on my hip."
    Chesney laughed. "I meant, what do you remember from before the accident?"
    "A reporter was hounding me…"
    "You remember her name?"
    "Candy Bigmouth Stimpson."
    "Okay. Very good. She's waiting outside. I want to keep you here overnight, just for observation—"
    But Yuki was staring around, starting to recognize the emergency room, her guts turning to Jell-O. She gripped the sides of the bed. "What hospital is this?"
    "San Francisco Municipal."
    Mommy died here.
    "I'll want to check you over again in the morning—"
    "Hell with
that,
" Yuki said. "I'm